Safety Zurich municipal council keeps ships away from swimmers

To prevent boats and swimmers from getting in each other's way, the Wollishofen landing stage is being extended from 14 to 63 meters. The Zurich municipal council approved a loan of 4.2 million Swiss francs for this on Wednesday evening.

Since the opening of the lakeside beach in Wollishofen in 2005, the ships of the Lake Zurich Navigation Company have no longer been able to use the Wollishofen landing stage reliably, the city council had justified its application to the municipal council.

The swimming area in front of the beach, which is limited by barrier buoys, only includes an area with a shallow water depth in which it is still possible to stand. People who want to swim therefore often leave the actual swimming area, said local councillor Markus Knauss (Greens) at the presentation of the proposal. "It leads to dangerous scenes."

A new jetty is now being built to create sufficient distance between boats and swimmers. This will extend 63 meters out into Lake Zurich instead of the previous 14 meters.

The project was undisputed. Andreas Egli (FDP) and Reis Luzhnica (SP), among others, said that it made sense and that the costs were moderate and reasonable. The municipal council subsequently approved the loan unanimously.

The SVP, on the other hand, suffered shipwreck with a postulate. Their suggestion that the city council should also create additional boat moorings at the same time as building the new jetty was defeated by 33 votes in favor and 77 against.